A storm is brewing
by MistyMae
Summary: The hospital experiences sabotage with dire consequences. Mistrust and paranoia ensue. This involves all characters.


Michael Spence watched as they wheeled the body out of his theatre. It didn't make any sense. Mr Cummings had seemed so healthy after his operation. What could have caused him to go into cardiac arrest? There had been no bleed that he could see. His heart was in perfect shape.

"Right, Michael, you need to hurry up in here because I have an emergency appendectomy and . . ." Serena Campbell paused as she watched them roll the stretcher away. "What happened?"

"Mr Cummings," Michael ran his fingers through his hair. "He had a cardiac arrest. I couldn't bring him back."

"Mr Cummings?!" Serena spat in surprise. "He was fine this morning."

"That's what I said."

"Was it a bleed?"

"No, I checked. I mean, his BP was a little high this morning, but other than that, he was almost in perfect health."

"You'll need to inform Hanssen," Serena said as the stretcher disappeared behind the doors of the lift. "This might warrant a full investigation."

"I am aware of that," Michael nodded. "I don't have anything to hide."

"I didn't say that you did," Serena held her hands up in defence.

"This makes no sense."

"I'll be glad to brainstorm with you after I've finished this appendectomy," Serena said as Chrissie Levy and a couple of other nurses wheeled a female patient into the theatre. "Just make sure you've got all the paperwork up to date and we'll be fine."

"I have," Michael answered, moving out of Serena's way as she headed into the theatre room. He had a feeling that this was not going to end well.

* * *

Serena quickly stepped into the conference room, trying to keep her head down. She hadn't realized that Hanssen had arranged a meeting until Chrissie had mentioned the Email and until after she was already late.

"Ms Campbell, glad you could join us," Hanssen said from the head of the table.

"Emergency appendectomy," she apologized, grabbing a seat near Professor Elliot Hope.

"All went well, I presume?" Hanssen persisted.

"Absolutely," she smiled.

"Good," Hanssen nodded. "I understand we had an unexplained death on AAU this morning."

"That's right," Michael glanced at Serena from across the table. "Mr Cummings went into cardiac arrest and I couldn't resuscitate him."

"And we're not aware of the cause of the arrest?"

"Not yet."

"Well, I will have to authorize a full investigation in that case."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Michael said. "As I was telling Serena, Mr Cummings was in perfect health this morning."

Serena nodded in agreement.

"He showed no signs of a bleed?" Hanssen asked.

"No, nothing."

"You said his blood pressure was a bit high," Serena said. "But other than that, I concur with Mr Spence, he was healthy."

"I'm assuming Mr Cumming's family has been informed?"

"They have," Michael confirmed.

"It wouldn't be the first time a patient's heart gave in," Jac Naylor piped up.

"No, you don't understand," Michael turned to her. "Cumming's heart was in perfect shape for a man of his age."

"That doesn't mean there wasn't a fault somewhere."

Serena watched them argue and was about to point out that Cummings had been through numerous health tests before his operation, when her mobile started vibrating in her pocket. The name AAU popped up on her screen. "Hello," she quickly answered.

Everyone at the table turned to look at her, probably wondering why she deemed it necessary to use her phone.

"You better get back to AAU," Chrissie said over the phone. "Your appendectomy patient's seizing."

"What?" Serena heard herself say in shock.

"I think she's going into cardiac arrest."

Serena jumped up from her seat and rushed towards the door.

"What's going on?" Michael called.

"My patient's going into cardiac arrest," she managed to answer before jogging out of the door and down the corridor. The lift would be an easy option, but she decided to use the stairs as it would be faster.

Arriving onto AAU, Serena could already tell they had lost her patient. The girl's eyes had rolled back into her head and Sacha Levy was replacing the defibrillator paddles. "Time of death," he said. "Ten twenty two AM."

"What happened?" She joined Sacha.

"She just started convulsing and then stopped breathing," Chrissie replied.

"From what?" Serena started going through the whole appendectomy procedure.

"Were there any problems during her appendectomy?" Sacha asked, clearly realizing what she was thinking.

"No, it was a straight forward procedure."

"Is this a joke?" Jac asked as she, Elliot, Hanssen and Michael stepped onto the ward. "Two deaths within the space of a couple of hours?"

"Ms Campbell?" Hanssen raised his eyebrows.

"I can't explain it," she answered. "She was _fine_."

"Okay, it seems a bit peculiar that you've both inexplicably killed a patient today," Jac said.

"Jac," Elliot scolded with disapproval.

"Hey, I didn't _kill_ my patient," Michael snapped.

"Perhaps we can hold off with any accusations, Ms Naylor," Hanssen tried to regain order.

Michael was about to chirp up when the sound of alarms going off on the far side of the ward caught his attention.

"Crash team!" A nurse called.

Serena ran after Michael as they both tried to resuscitate the young man. "Get me epinephrine!" He called as Chrissie joined them.

Hanssen stood nearby, watching his employees work. Two cardiac arrests were unusual, but three on one ward? That was impossible.

"Charging to two hundred," Serena said as she rubbed the gel between the defibrillator paddles. "Clear," she called, double checking to ensure all hands and metal items were removed from the patient's body before discharging the electrical current. The young man's body jerked violently. The machines showed no pulse. "Again," Serena repeated the procedure, watching with baited breath as the heart monitor graph rose to indicate a beat.

"Let's get some oxygen on him," Michael called.

The second they put the mask on him, his heart stopped again.

"What the hell?" Michael shouted.

Serena grabbed the paddles again and repeated the procedure again. This time there was no reaction. If they _could_ get his heart beating again, the chances of major brain damage were significant.

"Time of death," Michael couldn't believe he was saying this again. "Ten forty three AM."

They both stood there, staring at the patient. What the hell was going on?

Serena watched as Chrissie started unhooking the man from his IV drip and something lightly sprayed onto her neck. She turned to the IV drip, rubbing her neck. Something had definitely sprayed against her. Taking the plastic drip bag into her hands, she squeezed it slightly only for a light spray to sting her eyes. "Ow," she mumbled, rubbing the affected eye.

"What is it?" Michael watched her.

"There's a hole in this bag," she took another look, trying to stop her eye from running with water.

"That's a saline drip," Sacha said.

"It looks like the tiniest of holes," Serena said. "Like a pin prick."

"Ms Campbell, put the drip on the table and let's try not to touch it. I'll be contacting the police," Hanssen said, watching her carefully place the bag on the tray. "As soon as they arrive, I'd like all four of you to join me in my office," he said, looking at Serena, Michael, Sacha and Chrissie.

"You don't think someone purposefully tampered with the IV drip?" Chrissie asked in surprise.

"Were the last two patients on a saline drip?"

"Cummings was, I was replacing his electrolytes," Michael answered.

"So was my appendectomy patient," Serena nodded.

"Nurse Williams," Hanssen turned to Chrissie. "Oh, I apologize, I mean Nurse Levy," Hanssen quickly noted his error. "Will you please ensure we do not use any more of our saline IV drips. Contact St James and find out if they're willing to part with some of their stock, please?"

"Of course," Chrissie nodded and exchanged a shocked look with her husband.

"This was my patient," Sacha said.

"Well, we don't have this problem up on Darwin," Jac shook her head.

"Actually," an out of breath Oliver Vanentine called from the doorway. "We do."

"What the hell are you talking about?" She snapped.

"Sylvia Theodore just died from a cardiac arrest," he answered. "She was on a saline drip."

They all stared at him.

"Is this a joke, Oli?"

"I wish it was," he said with wide eyes.

"Mr Levy, can you contact Mr Hemingway and ask him to come see me."

"I don't know if that's a good idea," Serena said, immediately realizing what he was going to do.

"It's the fastest way for us to investigate what's happened," Hanssen answered. "And I want this to be an internal investigation."

"But if you're contacting the police, how _internal_ can it actually be? And if the press get wind of this . . ."

"I am aware of the ramifications, Ms Campbell," Hanssen answered with a little more annoyance than usual. "For the time being, I would like everyone to continue as normal until we can identify if any further saline drips have been tampered with."

"I have never heard of this kind of thing happening before," Michael mumbled.

* * *

"Well, how about we discuss the whole saline tampering situation. Prank or serial killer?" Michael asked a distracted Serena who was seated at her desk.

Serena looked up from her computer screen. "Serial killer? That's a bit pretentious."

"But it's possible. I mean, we've all heard of the caring nurse who tries to kill her patient in order to gain as much sympathy as possible – or the whole hero complex thing."

"Michael, we can't accuse anyone of anything until we know the facts."

"We're not accusing," he said, sipping his coffee. "We're just discussing possibilities – brain storming, if you will."

"Michael," Serena started, but was cut off by her phone ringing. She gave him one last look before answering. "Hello?"

Michael watched her as her as she raised an eyebrow.

"I see," she said.

"What is it?" Michael whispered.

Serena waved him away. "Thank you for that."

"What?"

"Insulin poisoning," she said as she replaced the phone receiver.

"Come again?"

"Somebody injected insulin into the saline."

"Which would cause death," Michael said.

"Apparently there were five more bags that had not been used that were also contaminated."

"So, only a few bags were contaminated with insulin?"

"Mr Hanssen wants everyone in his office."


End file.
